Top 25
3-18
- Games
- 21
- Win rate
- 14.3%
Back to Coaches
Program StabilizerDefense-First
Coach Profile
Mike Gottfried
1981-1989 • Cincinnati, Kansas, Pittsburgh
3 schools coached, anchored by Pittsburgh.
Mike Gottfried's coaching record is 53-45-3, highlighted by seasons at Pittsburgh from 1981 to 1989.
Mike Gottfried coached 9 seasons, won 54.0%, and posted an average SRS of 4.1. Best season: 1988 Pittsburgh. The profile was defense-first with a mostly steady profile. 3 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 53-45-3
- Career win rate
- 54.0%
- Average SRS
- 4.1
- Peak SRS
- 13.0
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 9
- Career span
- 9 years
- Best finish
- #17
- Consistency
- 70.3
Primary school anchor
Pittsburgh
Defense-First profile with 3 program stops and a peak score of 68.6.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 53-45-3
- Pittsburgh record
- 26-17-2
- Full-season record
- 46-42-2
- Partial-season record
- 7-3-1
- Vs AP Top 10
- 1-13
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-7
- Vs West Virginia
- 2-1
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-1
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
101 countable games, 54.0% win rate.
4 countable seasons at Pittsburgh.
8 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.
14 games using AP ranking at game time.
7 games using AP ranking at game time.
Backyard Brawl games in this dataset.
1 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 30, 1989. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Mike Gottfried
EliteStrongAverageLean
Mike Gottfried: 1983 KansasMike Gottfried: 1986 Pittsburgh
1981Actual season year • SRS range -4.9 to 13.01989
Active comparison point
Mike Gottfried • 1988
1988 Pittsburgh
Best season6-5 • SRS 13.0 • SP Overall 14.1
Win %
54.5%
YoY SRS
+3.8
SP Off / Def
31.4 / 18.3
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
1-13
- Games
- 14
- Win rate
- 7.1%
Top 5
0-7
- Games
- 7
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results21
| 1988 Regular Week 15 | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | #18 | L7-24 |
| 1988 Regular Week 7 | Pittsburgh | Notre Dame | #5 | L20-30 |
| 1988 Regular Week 5 | Pittsburgh | West Virginia | #11 | L10-31 |
| 1988 Regular Week 4 | Pittsburgh | Ohio State | #18 | W42-10 |
| 1987 Regular Week 10 | Pittsburgh | Syracuse | #8 | L10-24 |
| 1987 Regular Week 7 | Pittsburgh | Notre Dame | #11 | W30-22 |
| 1986 Regular Week 13 | Pittsburgh | Penn State | #2 | L14-34 |
| 1986 Regular Week 11 | Pittsburgh | Miami | #1 | L10-37 |
| 1985 Regular Week 12 | Kansas | Nebraska | #2 | L6-56 |
| 1985 Regular Week 10 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #9 | L6-48 |
| 1985 Regular Week 9 | Kansas | Oklahoma State | #12 | L10-17 |
| 1985 Regular Week 5 | Kansas | Florida State | #4 | L20-24 |
| 1984 Regular Week 12 | Kansas | Nebraska | #1 | L7-41 |
| 1984 Regular Week 10 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #10 | W28-11 |
| 1984 Regular Week 9 | Kansas | Oklahoma State | #10 | L10-47 |
| 1984 Regular Week 4 | Kansas | Florida State | #15 | L16-42 |
| 1983 Regular Week 12 | Kansas | Nebraska | #1 | L13-67 |
| 1983 Regular Week 10 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #11 | L14-45 |
| 1982 Regular Week 8 | Cincinnati | Alabama | #7 | L3-21 |
| 1981 Regular Week 3 | Cincinnati | Pittsburgh | #7 | L7-38 |
| 1981 Regular Week 2 | Cincinnati | Penn State | #9 | L0-52 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Pittsburgh
1986-1989 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS 9.4 • Win % 60.0%
Kansas
1983-1985 • 3 seasons
Avg SRS -1.3 • Win % 45.6%
Cincinnati
1981-1982 • 2 seasons
Avg SRS 1.8 • Win % 54.5%
- Longest tenure
- Pittsburgh • 4 seasons
- Best tenure
- Pittsburgh • 9.4 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Pittsburgh • 60.0%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Mike Gottfried sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeMike Gottfried sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Mike Gottfried
Strong
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 6.9
- Percentile
- 77th pct
Strong
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Pittsburgh
1986-1989 • 26-17-2
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 9.4Win % 60.0%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.3 during vs 7.2 baseline
-0.9
Avg SRS
Higher is better
10.2 during vs 12.7 baseline
-2.5
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
12.5 during vs 13.6 baseline
-1.1
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 60.0% baseline
-60.0%
Kansas
1983-1985 • 15-18-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -1.3Win % 45.6%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.0 during vs 3.6 baseline
+1.4
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-1.3 during vs -1.2 baseline
-0.0
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
0.8 during vs -1.7 baseline
+2.5
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Cincinnati
1981-1982 • 12-10
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 1.8Win % 54.5%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.0 during vs 4.4 baseline
+1.6
Avg SRS
Higher is better
1.8 during vs -0.3 baseline
+2.1
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
5.5 during vs 2.7 baseline
+2.9
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Pittsburgh 1988
6-5 • SRS 13.0
Biggest Improvement
Pittsburgh 1986
5-5-1 • 7.5 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Kansas 1983
4-6-1 • SP Off 35.6
Best Defensive Season
Pittsburgh 1987
8-4 • SP Def 12.3
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Kansas 1984
5-6 • SRS -4.9
Biggest Drop
Pittsburgh 1989
7-3-1 • -6.2 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Pittsburgh | 1989 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 68.2% | #20 | #17 | 6.8 | 11.4 | 35.4 | 25.8 | -6.2 | +13.6% | Partial season |
| Pittsburgh | 1988 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 13.0 | 14.1 | 31.4 | 18.3 | +3.8 | -12.1% | Season summary |
| Pittsburgh | 1987 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.7% | — | — | 9.2 | 12.2 | 24.0 | 12.3 | +0.7 | +16.7% | Season summary |
| Pittsburgh | 1986 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 50.0% | — | — | 8.5 | 11.1 | 30.1 | 20.2 | +7.5 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1985 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 50.0% | — | — | 1.0 | 3.5 | 29.6 | 27.4 | +5.9 | +4.5% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1984 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -4.9 | -4.9 | 26.6 | 31.4 | -5.0 | +4.5% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1983 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 40.9% | — | — | 0.1 | 3.7 | 35.6 | 33.4 | +0.6 | -13.6% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 1982 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | -0.5 | 2.1 | 25.9 | 24.8 | -4.6 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Cincinnati | 1981 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 4.1 | 9.0 | 23.5 | 15.0 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
John Jardine
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.6
Avg SRS 4.8 • Peak SRS 16.4 • 8 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.0
Open profile →Mark Stoops
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS 3.2 • Peak SRS 14.7 • 13 seasons
Best finish #18 • Volatility 5.1
Open profile →Bennie Ellender
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS 2.9 • Peak SRS 10.0 • 5 seasons
Best finish #20 • Volatility 5.5
Open profile →Bud Carson
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.2
Avg SRS 5.4 • Peak SRS 14.0 • 5 seasons
Best finish #13 • Volatility 5.5
Open profile →Tony Mason
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS 5.1 • Peak SRS 11.3 • 7 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 3.9
Open profile →Frank Maloney
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.1
Avg SRS 1.8 • Peak SRS 8.5 • 7 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 5.3
Open profile →